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As a treat to all the attendees, I will be
posting at least one interview every day until I leave home to attend the
summit. This is the fifth in a series of interviews with speakers leading up to
the event which will be held in Seattle from November 6th - 9th.This
interview is with Microsoft
Certified Master Robert Davis.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a
Microsoft Certified Master in SQL Server and have been working with SQL Server
for more than 12 years. Over the years, I’ve worn just about every hat a SQL
Server professional can including SQL developer, production DBA, and data
architect. I consider myself to be a “reformed developer”. When I got my first
real job in IT, I was looking for a position as a web developer. Eventually, I
was offered a job as a database developer. I was very eager to start my first
IT job, and accepted it even though the thought of working with databases
sounded like a boring job.

I was
working at a small company, and for the next several years, I flipped between
database and web development depending on the needs of the company at any given
time. A day came eventually when my manager said that he thought they would be
able to make me a web developer permanently. I realized at that moment that I
no longer wanted to be a web developer. Our DBA had left the company about 6
months earlier and had not been replaced, mostly due to budget restrictions. I
made a counter-offer for the DBA position instead, and SQL Server has been my
real passion ever since.

My favorite thing
about doing sessions are when people tell me that they learned something new
that will save them a lot of time. As DBAs, we are often tasked with doing a
lot more than is truly possible. As such we learn to be as efficient as
possible. When I worked as a web developer, I was often given the opportunity
to come up with elegant solutions to problems, and that was fun. As a DBA, to
be successful, you need to learn to come up with the most efficient way to do
things. So any time I can learn new ways to be efficient or teach someone else
to be more efficient, I consider it a very good thing.

Tell us about your first time at PASS Summit

My first time at
PASS Summit was in 2010. To be honest, I never paid attention to PASS
activities until I started getting actively involved in the SQL community in
2008. I had been blogging intermittently on SQL Server Central for a couple of
years, and started speaking at SQL Saturday events in 2009. I didn’t get picked
to speak at the SQL PASS Summit in 2009 because my team’s entire training
budget had been allocated to sending me through the Certified Master program.
Every year since then, I have been selected to be a speaker.

What advice do you have for PASS Summit First Timers?

Diversify and
participate. Take in a variety of sessions and attend lots of the after-hour
events. The first-timers’ program is also a great way to meet people. Your
mentor is probably someone who knows a lot of people and can introduce you to
someone.

And if you run into
someone you’ve always wanted to meet, talk to them. They’re just people like
you and I. For me, the SQL pros I always wanted to meet were Paul Randal and
Kimberly Tripp, and I’ve had the good fortune to be a student of their class
and to work with them on projects. You won’t meet anyone nicer and easier to
talk to than Paul and Kimberly.

What are your can't-miss PASS sessions?

Paul
White’s session is one of the things I look forward to the most. I told him
last year that he should submit a session called S*** Only I Know. He’s freaky
smart about things like the query optimizer. I only wish he was doing a full
day pre-con.

Besides sessions, what's on your must-do list at
Summit?

There are a couple
of SQL Karaoke parties at the same time on the same night. SQL Karaoke is
always a lot of fun, and I’m sorry that I’ll be missing the one sponsored by
Pragmatic Works. I think Pragmatic Works is an awesome company, and I have lots
of friends there. I have lots of friends that will be at the SQL Karaoke
sponsored by Idera and run by Denny Cherry, and that is the SQL Karaoke event
that I will be attending.

I also like to just
hang out and “talk shop” with other SQL people. There will be times where you
can find me just hanging out and talking to people. In fact, I’ll probably
spend some time hanging out at the Idera booth. They get a lot of people at the
booths that have technical questions, and this gives me a good way to talk shop
with people I don’t even know.

How can attendees become involved in the SQL Server
Community and continue their learning throughout the year?

SQLSaturdays are still one of my
favorite PASS events. I love speaking at and attending the events. One of the
things I love about my job at Idera is that they send me to SQLSaturday events
that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to attend. Travel can be expensive,
so I definitely get to attend more than I would otherwise.

I would love to help
organize and run a SQLSaturday event as well. I know it would be a lot of work,
but I think there are some great things being done at the events out there that
I would love to see get incorporated into our local SQLSaturdays.